Reference no: EM132431245
Assessment Task - Essay: Learning a Lesson from Corporate Failures: The Need for a Value-Based Compliance Management System
Outcomes: Underpinning Knowledge
Addresses some elements of required skills and knowledge as shown in the Assessment Matrix
Description:
In March 2017, The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it had started civil proceedings against the Westpac Banking Corp, a $113 billion bank, for "a number" of contraventions of responsible lending provisions contained in consumer protection laws. In 2009, the US Department of Justice won a $150m settlement from Deloitte, the world's biggest professional services firm, over its alleged failure to detect a long-running fraud at a former mortgage broker.
In one of the major financial irregularity cases in Australia, The Commonwealth Bank forced Storm Financial into administration on 9 Jan 2009 when the bank called up its lending facilities to Storm citing a default on Storms own margin lending facility with the bank.
Despite numerous legislations, standards, and protocols, we continue to see mismanagement, unethical practices (landing, credit etc.) and corporate collapses in Australia and around the world.
In this concise expository essay (maximum 1200 words), research and discuss the concept of organisational compliance within the Australian financial services sector context from a holistic viewpoint using "values" as drivers of best and ethical practice in addition to the legislative and professional practice frameworks. In effect, you will be focussing on theories such as value-based-management and management by principles while keeping the compliance and regulatory principles as the outcomes. Justify and argue why, in your view, a value-based compliance management system could or could not be viable in the sector. Ensure that you cover in your essay;
An overview of the Financial Services Sector in Australia
Summary of the regulator and compliance framework for financial services organisations
Examples of major corporate collapses (where compliance and management practice were issues) - examples of breaches
Components of a typical compliance management system
An overview of value-based management concepts (examples)
Role of values and values as part of the compliance management system (e.g. ethics, principles, leadership etc.)
The essay must be written in your own words and appropriate referencing and citation must be used in all external references (preferred: Harvard referencing system: Your trainer/assessor will provide you with referencing guidelines. There is no specific structure of essay, but it will be expected that you will present your essay with at least three identifiable sections; Introduction, body (main headings) and conclusion. Expository essays are based on facts and present a balanced analysis of a topic using facts, statistics, and examples (e.g. comparison and contrast).
The essay must contain sources/references from a wide range of publications including books, magazines, journals and online resources. Only online references will not be accepted. In an event where a book or a publication is accessed online or an electronic format, it should be appropriate referenced using the referencing guide.
The essay should be concise, succinct, and focussed on key points. The contents must be coherent and presented in a logical sequence (not just copy and paste from various sources) leading to a conclusion.
Assessment Criteria
The following assessment criteria will be used for marking this assessment task;
- General information introducing the topic
- Clear thesis/argument/stance and a statement of the main points
- Structure and presentation of the essay
- In-depth, accurate, and relevant facts/concrete details
- Effective concluding sentence that restates the topic sentence
- Coherence and logical flow of essay contents
- Effective transitions throughout the essay
- Originality and uniqueness in writing
- Precise and engaging vocabulary - strong/thought-provoking voice
- Concise analysis of literature/theory in own words
- Strength of the issues identified, discussed
- Relevance of the issues identified and discussed to the topic
- Conclusion and closing remarks
- Range of references used to support the arguments
- Appropriate referencing